the same time, KHFI-FM and its co-owned television station, which had now become KTVV on channel 36, were sold to LIN Broadcasting. LIN, however, had been required to divest one of the two properties within twelve months. It chose to retain the TV station. Central Texas Broadcasting, a group headed by Dick Oppenheimer, acquired KHFI-FM in 1980. Oppenheimer's acquisition reunited KHFI-FM, now having shifted to Top 40 as "K-98", with the former KHFI AM, now religious KIXL, generating concerns that a format change was in the air. The format never changed, and KHFI-FM established itself as a ratings leader in Austin during the first half of the 1980s, dueling with KASE-FM for the number one position. Signal upgrade In 1986, Oppenheimer reached a deal to sell KHFI and KIXL, along with the remaining properties he owned, to Florida broadcaster George Duncan's Encore Communications in a $38 million transaction; $20 million of that was derived from the Austin duo, which set a market sale price record. The timing could not have been worse for Duncan. That same year, a far more powerful station, KBTS, moved into the Austin market from Killeen. With 100,000 watts of signal power to K-98's 1,300, the station could not adequately compete. This prompted KHFI-FM to pursue a frequency change to 98.1 MHz and upgrade to 100,000 watts, which took place in April 1990. The move-in of KBTS and other FM stations to the Austin market from surrounding areas, a decline in radio revenue and general declines in the value of radio properties meant that the next sale of KHFI-FM would set its own record. It was purchased for $5 million by Spur Capital, an Austin investment firm managed by Don Kuykendall, in 1990. Industry publications heralded the transaction as representing the largest loss in the history of commercial radio in the United States; KHFI-FM had sold for one-fourth what it was worth in 1986. KHFI-FM to KVET-FM Before the Spur Capital purchase was announced, two rumors were flying at KHFI-FM: that the station had been sold for a shockingly low $5 million and that it would flip to a country music format. For eight hours on April Fools' Day, the station stunted as a new country outlet. It was branded as "The Rooster", which station morning host Kevin Connor called "a salute to the people forecasting our demise". At the same time as Spur purchased KHFI-FM,